Descent into Darkness
by Shadekeeper716
Summary: When two Undead escape the Asylum, they realize that they are unlike the others. Can they work together to defeat the rulers of Lordran and rekindle the Flame? Or is the world doomed to eternal darkness?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

She woke up suddenly, with a start. _What the Hell? Where am I?_ She shook her head as answers slowly came to her.

Her name was Anna, an undead from … Somewhere in Lordran. She couldn't quite remember that. For a short while she struggled, then gave it up. Being undead had its disadvantages, like the mental degredation one had when Hollow. Sometimes, it was easier just to let the mind rest. She moved on.

She had been brought to the Asylum when she was discovered to be an undead, and locked in this godsforsaken cell. Slowly, she had turned Hollow, and she was getting fairly far gone by now. She knew that soon, her mind would go completely, but that seemed immaterial in the face of her current problem: She was locked in a freaking cell in the middle of one of the most inescapable prisons in all of godsdamned Lordran.

Anna settled back and closed her eyes, not waiting for anything, just… being. Then, she heard a rustle, and looked up.

There stood a knight, staring down at her, examining her to see if she were fully Hollow. Apparently making a decision, he threw a body down, and walked away. Anna sat there for a second, unsure of what the Abyss was going on, then stepped forward and searched the body. As a thief, she was quite talented at this, and found a key. She found nothing else, and then looked more closely at the key. It appeared to be a cell key… One matching hers exactly.

She tried it in the lock and it worked, thank Gwyn. Finally, free!

Or, at least, kind of free. She still had to get out of the Asylum. She pulled out a broken blade, which was all she had left in terms of weaponry, and started forward. As she walked down the long hallway, she heard frenzied shouting from one of the cells. It was another prisoner, a knight by the looks of him. He was nearly Hollow as well, but still had his wits about him, as he was asking for release.

"Please, stop, let me out! Wait!" He reached out from his cell, nearly able to reach her. "For the gods' sake, free me!"

Anna, momentarily startled, got her cool again and asked, "Why should I? How do I know you won't just kill me the moment I let you out?"

"On my honor as a knight, I will do you no harm. Please, let me out!" He was practically begging now, and Anna knew she had to let him out.

As she opened his door as well, she asked, "What is your name?"

"William," He replied. He fell to one knee. "I am eternally in your debt."

"Yeah, yeah, thank me later. First we have to get out of here." She pulled him up and set off towards the stairwell down the hall, breezing past the Hollows with the ease of a person who makes their living in the shadows, unseen. Will, however, clanked noisily behind her in his heavy armor. There were also other footsteps, though, the floor shaking with each step.

Just to their right, in a massive cell of his own, was a gigantic demon with a huge hammer. It stomped moodily across its cell, it's every step causing a huge crunch.

"I do _not_ wanna mess with that thing," Anna whispered, and somehow, the Stray Demon, as she was beginning to call it, seemed to hear. It turned its head, unleashing the most baleful, hate-filled glare she had ever seen, and raised its hammer as it lumbered towards the wall she was looking from. She and Will exchanged a glance, then scampered up the steps away from the cell. As they ran, she saw a Hollowed body on one of the pikes in the wall, and decided to do her best to avoid that same fate.

Reaching the top of the stairwell, she slowed to a walk, and waited for Will to catch up. She was far faster than he, she in her light, nearly silent clothes and he in his heavy, slow, loud armor. She shook her head and grinned, grateful that she wasn't so overburdened.

Will have her a look. "What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing." As she turned away to go up the ladder they had reached, she noticed a tiny, broken blade in his hands, much like her own. _I guess we were brought here in much the same way._ "How did you come to arrive at such a horrid place as this?"

Looking sheepish and mildly confused, he answered, "I honestly don't remember. Most everything is a blur before this. And yourself?"

She shook her said, responding, "I don't remember, either. It must be this cursed darksign."

They had reached a courtyard, with two huge doors at the other end of it, and found themselves looking at a small sword stabbed into the ground. Instinctively, the pair walked towards it, and stuck their hands out above it. Suddenly, a small flame lit, and they felt great, comforting warmth emanating from the fire. They glanced at each other, and sat down. "Let's rest a bit."

Over the next few minutes, they talked about what may lie behind the massive doors, and soon enough, worked up the courage to find out. Each went to one door, and pushed _hard_. They creaked slowly open, to reveal a large, fairly open room filled with pillars. Another set of even larger doors sat across from them. The pair walked cautiously forward, glancing around at every side.

Suddenly, ominously, the doors quietly shut behind them, locking Anna and Will in, as far as they could see. They tensed as a unit, and examined their environment desperately.

Naturally, it came from the only direction they _weren't_ looking: up. The guardian of the Undead Asylum leaped from above, and landed with a massive thud. There was a brief moment shared by the two undead, a moment described only by, "Aw, _crap_."

Then, quite unfortunately for them, the Asylum Demon leapt into action, and went to slam his hammer on the newly freed undead. They both were able to roll out of the way, but barely. The shockwave knocked Anna off her feet, and Will took the opportunity to get behind the abomination. He started hacking away at it with the broken blade, but it barely even flinched. With an angry, but almost casual, motion, the demon turned and whacked Will with the hammer. He got absolutely pulverized, and knew for certain that he would not survive. He slowly collapsed, and his Darksign flared briefly before he died. Sadly for Anna, he still did die.

When Will had passed, the Demon turned towards the Thief. She backed away slowly, trying to patronize the gargantuan brute, saying, "Nice Asylum Demon. Very good, good boy. That's a nice hammer. Please don't kill me, please don't kill me." Too bad that failed as well. As she was backing up, she eventually felt something solid behind her, and realized she had, quite literally, hit a wall. That was her last thought before the hammer hit, and all faded to black.


	2. Chapter 2: The Escape

Chapter 2

Will was the first to awaken, and he did so painfully. He knew for sure he had been killed, but knew that the dead normally felt no pain. Sadly for him, that meant he was still alive, despite having been smashed by that massive Demon.

The wounds burned as he healed, from the bonfire's healing estus flowing into his veins. _This was probably more painful than dying, _he reflected. Slowly, the agony finally abated, and he was able to open his eyes, to see the courtyard, and the bonfire, by which he was sitting crosslegged. He could also see Anna nearby, slowly awakening as well.

"What the Abyss was that? That freaking hurt." She shook her head and rose, working out the aches from the estus' healing fire.

He shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't care to find out again. Problem is, I don't see another way out of here."

"I don't even care right now. Let's just go around and see if there's another way besides the one involving the huge, demonic creature with a hammer that likes to smash us," she said as she walked towards the wall. Will sighed, and rose as well. He had known they weren't going to get to rest for long…

**2 minutes later**

"Well, that was a waste of time. There's the way we came, the way we got crushed, and a stupid locked door. Wonderful. Absolutely perfect," Anna grumbled as she half-sat-half-fell into a sitting position by the bonfire.

Will gave her a look, and walked towards the massive doors housing the demon. "Come on, let's try this again."

"Are you insane!"

"We don't have much choice, now do we? Either we remain here and rot, or we try to take the thing down." Will started pushing, and the doors creaked open.

Anna, with a groan of unhappiness, pushed herself to her feet and walked towards the doors.

**4 deaths, 39 minutes, 1 temper tantrum, and 0 successes later**

"I hate you." Anna glared at the demon, in a kind of staredown. "I despise your very being, I want you to burn for the rest of your days, and I desire your eternal doom." As if in response, the ugly bag of flesh leaped forward and slammed where she had been standing seconds earlier with the hammer.

She had rolled out of the way, and continued to taunt it, yelling insults towards it, its appearance, its mother, and anything else she could think of. In the meantime, Will crept behind it, dualwielding the broken sword hilts, and prepared to strike. In a flurry of swipes and stabs, he inflicted as much damage as he could to it, then rolled away as it swept the hammer behind itself. As he rolled, he slid a hilt to Anna, and she ran forward and leapt onto its back. She dug the broken sword into the Asylum Demon as far as she could, and hung on for dear life as it swung back and forth. Then, suddenly, the demon's tiny wings began to beat, and it started to lift high into the air. Anna gulped, and stared at the ground 15 feet below. As it plunged down, she was shaken loose, but the sword hilt remained. The wound wasn't deep at all, but it was bleeding, and it looked like it hurt like a bitch.

The pair of undead glanced at each other in panic, as they realized one of their weapons were gone, and were shaken out of the moment when the Asylum Demon again roared and swung the hammer, barely missing the two crimson fighters. They separated, and, by unspoken agreement, charged forward at once to attack the demon's legs, trying to slow its movement. It didn't work. The hammer swing was hard, and knocked Will flying… Straight into a small, open doorway, far too small for the towering demon but sufficient for the undead. "This way! Anna, in here!" She looked in surprise, and seeing the potential, started to _run_ towards him. The thief dodged a hammer blow, and leapt the last few feet through the gate. It slammed shut behind her, and, they realized, gave them an escape.

Will leaned over and started to cough up blood, and Anna supported him as they walked slowly down the small pathway. In the room they reached, filled with water and muck at the bottom, was an unlit bonfire, just waiting for their flame to ignite it. They did so, and rested for a few minutes, healing their wounds and resting.

**5 minutes later**

Anna and Will started slowly down the long corridor, quietly conversing, and, quite stupidly, not focusing on their surroundings. Suddenly, an arrow sprouted from Anna's chest, and she fell to her knees, disbelieving what she saw. The arrow apparently just missed her heart and lungs, but still did plenty of serious damage.

Will took a glance away from his companion, and saw an undead archer, fully hollowed, notching another arrow down the long hallway. He saw no way to reach it before it fired once again, and knew he had only moments. Then, he saw a small hallway off to the side, and instinctively picked the lighter thief up and carried her into the small hallway. She moaned quietly as he did so, and, looking at the wound with a professional eye, he saw there was little threat to her survival (not that it really mattered much anyway, in the long run, if she died; she would just rematerialize at a bonfire), but took extra care anyway. He removed the arrow, cleaned the wound as best he could in this mud puddle they were in, and helped her to stand. "How is it?"

"Hurts like all Hell, but I think I'll live. If not, oh well, I'll survive anyway." Will chuckled, at this, and stepped carefully forward, peeking his head around the corner. A half second later, he jerked back, and an arrow flew past his head, missing by mere inches. His feet caught on a corpse on the ground, and he nearly crashed into Anna as he fell. After brushing himself off, he noticed: there were two corpses on the ground, one holding a target shield, the other holding a larger, heavier tower kite shield. Will, politely, moved back, and allowed Anna her pick. She grabbed the smaller target shield, and he in turn hefted the tower kite shield. With a nod to each other, they stepped out of the hallway, and began to run towards the offending archer.

The archer began to fire desperately, and, as they got closer, it turned and loped away in that odd gait many hollows shared. Will began to give chase, but Anna slowed, needing a break because of the arrow wound. "Wait, hold up!" Will finally stopped running, and turned, with a questioning look. "Don't be rash, we need a plan here." Looking just past him, she raised her eyebrows and said, "And I think I've got one."

Conveniently, almost _too_ conveniently placed, were two more corpses, each holding a weapon. One held a thief's choice weapon, the bandit's knife, and another held a broadsword. Each in pristine condition. They picked up their respective, preferred weapons, and started up the stairwell the poor, poor archer had fled up. The archer desperately fired off several shots, but Will started to slice him with the broadsword, and Anna stabbed him in the chest with her knife. It fell, and they felt a strange, rejuvenating sensation as the souls possessed by the hollow entered themselves.

A shudder passed through Anna. "That was… wonderful."

Will nodded his agreement. "It was definitely something."

A bit farther on, the doorway was covered in fog. "This is not a natural formation."

Will nodded his assent. "Soooo…. What do you suggest?"

Anna shrugged, and said, "Go through it, I guess." And she stepped into the fog. Will shook his head and followed.

After a moment or two of disorientation, they realized they were in the upper area of the courtyard of their first bonfire. "Well, back where we started. Go figure," Anna mumbled. In a room directly in front of them, but completely blocked off, they saw a knight lying on the ground, apparently the same one who had rescued Anna, and, by extension, Will. However, they were blocked from him, and couldn't do anything for him yet.

They walked to the right, and the two undead looked between the upper and lower paths. After a moment of discussion, they decided upon going downwards first, to the familiar, and unlocked the door into the courtyard with Anna's master key. They stopped at the bonfire, to heal Anna's brutal chest wound, and then walked back up the staircase to the balcony above. Going up the other staircase, Will put an arm out in front of Anna when he heard a slight rumbling. Suddenly, a massive metal ball came into view, and rolled straight towards them! Will pushed the thief out of the way, and was comically rolled over by the ball. Surprisingly, damage was minimal, and he just brushed himself off before standing… Only grimacing in pain when Anna apparently wasn't paying attention. Looking back, the ball had smashed a hole in the wall, and the odd pair stepped through it. The knight inside looked at them in shock for a moment, then, much relieved at their apparent manner, said, "Oh, you… You're no hollow, eh? Nor is your friend?" Anna shook her head. "Thank goodness. I'm done for, I'm afraid. I'll die soon, then lose my sanity. I wish to ask something of you. You two and I, we're all undead. Hear me out, will you?"

"Of course," Will said.

"What is it?"

"Regrettably, I have failed in my mission. But perhaps you two can keep the torch lit. There is an old saying in my family. 'Thou who art undead, art chosen. In thine exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords. When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the Fate of the Undead thou shalt know.' Well, now you know. And I can die with hope in my heart…" The bested knight started to sag a bit more, seemingly weaker than he had been earlier. "Oh, one more thing. Here, take these. Two estus flasks, undead favorites."

"Wait, what do these do?" Anna cocked her head at the small bottle she held.

"When you need it, you'll figure it out. Oh, and this…" He handed Anna a key. "Now, I must bid you farewell. I would hate to harm you two after death. So go now, and thank you…."

The companions nodded their thanks to the dying knight, and stepped out. As they began up the stairs from whence the ball had come, they heard a piercing sound, and felt some souls enter them, significantly more than had been gained from the earlier archer. At the top of the stairs, they encountered a hollow, mentally empty, who launched at them with his sword. They dodged, and Will lopped off its head with one clean blow.

The door was locked ahead, but the key they had been given was sufficient, and it opened with a creak. There was a corner ahead, and the heavy, uneven breathing of hollows could be heard. The heroes of this tale glanced at each other, and grinned at the slight challenge ahead. Sprinting forward, Will used his broadsword on the first hollow, and blocked the blow of the second. Anna charged forward, and slid under both the sword swing of the third and the arrow of the archer. The bandit's knife took out the legs of the hollow, temporarily incapacitating it, and she ran forward to attack the last hollow. Will had just dispatched the second hollow, and killed the third, as Anna used the temporary distraction provided by the knight to slip behind the hollow. The thief brutally slit the archer's throat, and pushed the new corpse to the floor. Quite unfortunately for them, there was yet another fog-covered door, this one massive.

With a sigh, Anna stepped up to it, and Will also. With two steps they were through, and seemed to be in the large room with the pillars once again. And, naturally, the room's earlier occupant had not yet decided to take a leave of absence. "Not again…" The two undead, getting closer to hollowhood, leapt forward, and each landed on a shoulder of the beast, firmly planting their respective weapons into the demon. The broadsword plunged deep, but the bandit's knife was curved, and the two wounds seriously injured the beast. It shook them off, but they were prepared, and rolled forward as they hit the ground. The beast did its best, but clearly, it was finally outmatched, and Anna decided to take it down in style. While Will distracted it (and its hammer), she took her knife and the broken sword, and jumped onto the beast's back. It again began to shake her off, but she had a firm grip with the two blades, and every time it stopped the shaking, she resumed the routine of stabbing and climbing. Anna reached the neck of the beast, and began to move towards the vulnerable space of its neck. Will just watched as she effortlessly cut its massive throat, and the beast finally died, collapsing in its death throes.

She rode it the entire way down, slowly gliding towards the ground as it dissolved. Both Anna and Will felt a new power, humanity, enter their beings, but knew something was still inherently wrong. Ignoring the thought for the moment, she shook the remains and dust off herself, and picked up the key it had left in its wake. Anna walked towards the doors, and inserted the key, opening the door to the outside realm. "Well, come along, then," Anna looked back at the motionless Will. "We don't have all day." And started walking up the steep hillside.

Will caught up to her in a brisk jog, and they strolled, victorious, to the top of the hill. There was seemingly nothing there, but a dead end. "Well, this kind of sucks."

However, a gigantic crow, something out of a nightmare, appeared, and grabbed each undead in one of its claws, flying away towards a distant land, of trials and victory alike.


	3. Chapter 3: Lordran

Sorry for the ridiculously long hiatus. School and work have gotten in the way for a while.

Chapter 3

Will was the first to land, and Anna was close behind. The crow that had carried them flew off, and they each nodded their thanks to the massive and terrifying, but helpful, creature.

They stood a moment, and took a look at their surroundings. The smaller thief was the first to notice the bonfire, and they took a brief respite there, restoring what wounds they had sustained.

Will was leaning back on his hands, just mentally gauging the feeling of the humanity he had gained, while Anna tried desperately to remember what use the souls they had gained would be of. Her memory of life before becoming trapped in the Asylum was fuzzy, but she knew that there was some great importance lent to souls among the undead.

Both soon grew bored, and decided to just get up and figure it out at their next convenience. "So, where to first?" asked the knight.

The location they were at appeared to be on the side of a massive slope, with stairs heading up on one side, stairs headed downwards behind them, and a large number of ancient ruins on the other side. "I'm… not entirely sure. Where exactly would a massive bell that could be the most important thing for all Undead be located?"

"I have absolutely no idea."

Thankfully for them, at that point, a voice spoke up from next to the Bonfire. "Did you say something about the Bells of Awakening?"

Somehow, they hadn't noticed the knight in blue armor sitting on a log not 20 feet from the Bonfire. They approached him, and Will asked, "Did you say "Bells?" I thought there was just one?"

"You two must be new arrivals here in Lordran. Let me guess, Fate of the Undead, right? Well, you're not the first, and probably not the last."

Anna spoke up, "Or maybe we will be the last. We can make it."

"I doubt it. There's no salvation here. You would've done better to rot in the Asylum. But, it's much too late for that now, isn't it? Since you're here, I'll lend a hand. There are, in fact, TWO bells that you must ring." The Crestfallen Warrior grinned slightly at this.

Both the arrivals groaned a little, knowing the coming task would be that much more difficult. Anna asked, "Where are they?"

"One is up above, in the Undead Church, while the other is far, far below, in the very base of Blighttown."

"Why do I get the feeling Blighttown isn't the nicest of places?" Will asked, slightly rhetorically.

"Oh, it certainly isn't." The Crestfallen Warrior shook his head. "I'd die again before I step foot into that cesspool! Heh, heh, heh."

The two new Undead gave each other a look, and decided to go back for Blighttown later. They then thanked him, and walked away, his loud, creepy laughter following them. "So, we'll try for the Church first, right?" Will asked.

"Not quite yet. Let's take a look around first, see what's around here that we can use, then head on."

Nodding his assent, the Knight hefted his broadsword, in case of dangers, and walked up into the ruins. They were able to find several corpses that had dropped humanity, souls, and various items, such as firebombs, as well as a few chests with a few weapons and items. Then, they walked to the end of the ruins, where there appeared to be a graveyard. Will hesitated. "This seems like a bad idea."

Anna shrugged, "Nah, it's a graveyard! Who's going to be loitering in a graveyard, waiting for the next unsuspecting undead to show up?" The thief strolled casually into the burial ground.

"Half of freaking Lordran, by the looks of it…" Will muttered under his breath as he followed.

She found a large collection of souls on a corpse within, and shouted to her companion, "See? Nothing to it. Easy pickings." Much too bad that she didn't hear the rustling of the skeletons her shouting had awakened.

"Why, exactly, do you think there's an unburied corpse in the middle of an area specifically meant for burying the dead? We should leave." Will refused to go all the way down the stairs.

"No, no, we'll be fi-" She was cut off by the sword slash to her back, by one of the skeletons behind her. She cursed as she stumbled forward, her light thief clothes barely offering any protection against the scimitar. "What the Abyss? Run!"

Will laughed a little as he watched her plight, the thief running even farther into the graveyard and picking up quite the following of living dead. "You've gotten really popular all of a sudden! I can't imagine it's for your personality or charm!" He shouted.

"Oh, shut up and help me out here!" By this point, she had gotten about 11 skeletons chasing her.

"Ask nicely!"

"I fucking hate you."

"That still wasn't very nice, but fine!" He got up off the step he had been sitting comfortably at, and pulled out one of the many firebombs he had picked up earlier. He pulled his arm back, aimed, and hurled the small ball, and it landed just behind Anna, slowing the pursuit of the skeletons and burning a few of them. This gave the quick thief time to reach the top of the stairwell with the knight, and they stood together as the horde of dead ran towards them.

Will used his larger sword and heavier armor to act as the tank, taking down a massive number of them with one swing, but not able to stop them from swinging at him, too. Anna ducked under his broadsword to leap directly into the fray, dodging blows and backstabbing all the skeletons she could. Sadly, the two started to take some hits, and they knew they couldn't win. Especially when they saw a ridiculously massive skeleton at the other end of the cemetery form. They glanced at each other, and said, "Run. Now." At the same moment.

And that they did. They sprinted away through the ruins. They couldn't lose the skeletons, however, and found themselves passing right by the Crestfallen Warrior. However, he made no move to help them, just laughing creepily at them as the pair ran down the stairs next to the Bonfire, the multitude of walking bones following behind. The skeletons simply never let up, and the pair finally reached a room at the bottom of the long stairwell. As they stepped onto the center, the lift went straight down, and the skeletons stopped at the edge, looking down and seemingly… laughing? How could they possibly be _laughing?_

**Five minutes later**

That explains why they were laughing. That being the ghosts, and the horrifying atmosphere, and the crazed Hollows everywhere. Thankfully, the ghosts didn't follow the pair up the lift back to normalcy, or whatever normalcy could possibly be offered by walking skeletons, reborn dead, and giant crows.


End file.
